Norway audits alt med industry. Guess what they find?

During a big investigation of the alternative medicine industry in Norway, around 30 alt med practioners are getting a stern warning from the Norwegian Consumers Bureau for use of illegal claims in their advertising. All in all, 250 practioners and companies selling alternative treatments were investigated.

This is an improvement from a similar survey from a few years ago, which was done in cooperation with the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision, where many more of the parties being investigated broke the law.

The fantastic claims being made are of the usual type – to help or cure illnesses and diseases such as epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, headaches, allergies, cancer, etc.

According to Norwegian law it is illegal for alt med practioners to advertise cures or treatments against diseases and illnesses. They are only allowed to offer treatment that could ease or lessen symptoms.

The 30 practioners in violation of Norwegian advertising law will be monitored closely by the Consumers Bureau as well as the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision to ensure they do not make promises they can’t hold.

How I wish our massive US public safety bureaucracies were as committed and effective as Norway’s few agencies. Guess that’s what we get with a runaway culture of greed that values profits over public health and safety. We have the FDA, AMA, FTC, FBI, EPA, CDC, and various consumer “safety” agencies et al, but they mostly seem to be sleepwalking, rubber-stamping, or bought off by industry and charlatans.

A strong offense approach is crucial to combat fraud, incompetence and outrageous claims which endanger public safety. We can’t expect people to exercise critical thinking skills, common sense, or even self-preservation in the face of relentless multimillion-dollar promotions of false cures and supplements. Our existing safety agencies and public resources need to be fully funded and robustly pro-active. At the very least, our watchdog agencies and laws should have some teeth.

The anti-vax crisis is a good example of pseudoscience and fear overwhelming medical science, research and proven results.

Memo to science: Stop trying to be politically correct. Step it up, enforce laws, and protect the public.

Free speech does not trump public safety.

Gary

April 25, 2014 at 6:02 AM

Agreed, of course. The problem is that the “Quack Miranda” disclaimer is buried on the package, well below the health claims to the contrary